NY Court grants in part SEC’s motion to reopen case against Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow
The SEC is granted leave to move to reopen the case either to seek the Court’s approval of a final judgment with Haddow or to move for monetary relief.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield of the New York Southern District Court has granted in part a motion by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reopen the case against Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow, known for running fraudulent schemes such as Bar Works and Bitcoin Store Inc.
As per the Court’s order signed on December 10, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission is granted leave, if it desires, to move to reopen the case either to seek the Court’s approval of a final judgment with Haddow or to move for monetary relief.
Let’s recall that, the SEC requested that the Court re-open the action because the Commission’s partial consent judgment against defendant Renwick Haddow does not resolve the Commission’s claims for monetary relief against him. Put otherwise, the judgment has not resolved the issue of monetary penalties to be imposed on Haddow.
Once Haddow has been sentenced in his related criminal case, the SEC anticipates that (i) the parties will reach a settlement on the monetary relief, or (ii) the regulator will make a motion seeking monetary relief. There is currently no set sentencing date in the Criminal Matter.
As per the consent judgment, Haddow is permanently restrained and enjoined from violating, directly or indirectly, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b, by using any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails, or of any facility of any national securities exchange, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security:
- a) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;
- b) to make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or
- c) to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person.
In May 2019, U.S. Attorney Berman announced the unsealing of a guilty plea, on May 8, 2019, by Renwick Haddow, a/k/a “Jonathan Black,” in which he admitted to his own involvement in the fraudulent scheme related to Bar Works, as well as to making material misrepresentations and misappropriating investment funds in another company created by him called Bitcoin Store Inc.
Haddow was originally charged in June 2017 and extradited from Morocco in April 2018. He pleaded guilty to an Information charging him with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is cooperating with the Government in the criminal investigation.
